


Again

by hunters_retreat



Series: Taking Chances [2]
Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Alec is a good father, Ben is a brat, Kid Fic, Logan has the patience of a saint, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4633104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He heard the bag drop onto the table in front of him and the footsteps that took Logan away from him.  Again.       </p>
            </blockquote>





	Again

 

  
  
Alec couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.  He could see the tension in the other man’s shoulders and he had no doubt what had caused it.  Logan was sitting at the table, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at his companion in the seat next to him.

Ben was sitting with the same crossed arms, same tension, and a face that he was certain mirrored Logan’s own frustrated look.  He didn’t know how to make things better but he kept telling himself time would.  He hoped it would because being the father of a 5 year old without the preceding 5 years to teach him anything about the boy was the hardest thing he’d ever done.  Still, he didn’t regret keeping Ben, not even when he’d managed to interrupt his love life completely in the last two weeks since he’d been found.

“MMs!”  Ben said loudly. 

“Green beans.”  Logan answered back, an edge to his voice that Alec knew all too well.  He’d been the cause of Logan losing his patients plenty of times after all.

“MMs!”

“Chicken.”

“MMs!”

“You don’t get M&Ms unless you eat dinner first Ben.”

Ben broke into a full pout, lower lip out and quivering ever so slightly.  “I. Want.  My.  Daddy.” 

“You and me both kid.”  Logan said with a sigh. 

It was more than he could take and Alec walked through the doorway, making as much noise as he could.  They both looked at him, Logan with open relief and Ben with such blazing affection that it still stopped his heart.  Ben ran from the table and threw himself at Alec, who easily caught him up and swung him into his arms.  “Hey sport.  Having a good time?”  He asked into the little boy’s hair.

There was no answer, just like he knew there wouldn’t be.  Ben just clung tighter to him.  He looked over at Logan who seemed to deflate a little.  When Alec moved closer and touched his face though, Logan leaned into it.  “Everything okay?”  He asked softly.

Logan just shrugged.  “He doesn’t want dinner.  He just wants M&Ms.”

There was more to it than that and Alec knew it but it seemed like that was the last straw to Logan.   Alec didn’t understand why this was happening.  Logan was the one that had found Ben, had brought him home and given Alec the choice.  He had the paperwork done up so that no one could legally take Ben from him.  He’d made this possible.

Besides all that, everyone loved Logan. It was just impossible not to.  Even Alec, who had more reasons than most to dislike Logan, liked Logan.  The man had helped destroy everything he’d once known.  By freeing him from Manticore he’d made Alec face all the things he’d done, the people he’d killed or families he’d destroyed.  He’d made him take responsibility for what he’d done and for allowing himself to continue to do it.  It meant facing the brainwashing and the pain of Rachel’s death, and the way he’d allowed Manticore’s orders to become his end all be all because otherwise he’d lost Rachel for something petty.  Logan and Max did that to him.  He’d never hated any two people more in his life and in the beginning he’d been grateful that he’d managed to keep them from being together, that he’d had a part in preventing their happiness.

It was petty and he regretted it now, but there was no way to change it.  Time had taken them all down different paths anyway and somehow, he and Logan had ended up together.  Logan still made him feel like a lost kid sometimes, innocent questions about desires and what do you want to do and Alec never knew how to answer because he’d never been allowed to have what he wanted, just what he was told to take. 

Alec pried Ben’s arms from around his neck and sat the boy at the table.  “Ben, you need to eat your dinner before you get M&Ms.” He said.

The boy smiled at him, eyes a little red rimmed but he was always like that when Alec first walked in, clingy and softly crying out his relief that he hadn’t been left.  “Okay Daddy.” 

Ben picked up a single green bean, looked up at Logan, and took a big bite, legs swinging happily under him as he did so.  Logan’s eyes narrowed slightly and he turned, walking out and heading into the living room.

Alec took a deep breath as he sat down beside Ben.  He cut his food up for him into smaller pieces mostly because he felt he should, not because he needed it.  One of the first things he’d done was test Ben’s abilities and the boy could handle a knife better than most full grown normals.  Ben just sat there talking about the book Logan had been reading him between bites of chicken.  “Finish up bud and you can have your M&Ms when you’re done.”  He said when the plate was part way empty.

He walked into the living room following after Logan.  The other man sat on the couch, ankle propped up on his knee and one hand rubbing his face wearily.  It made Alec ache to see him like that.  Logan was always the one that knew what to do.  He was the one that really understood Alec and helped things make sense.  He hated to see him lost.  He hated the idea that maybe keeping Ben was going to make him chose between the boy who called him father and his lover.

“Hey.”  He said lightly. 

Logan looked up, eyes darting behind for the boy and relaxing a little when he wasn’t there.  “Ben?”

“Finishing dinner.”

Logan nodded then shook his head as he stood up, walking away from Alec to stare out the window.  “He was fine at lunch.  After you dropped him off he played for a while and we sat down and read some books.  I didn’t get too close, didn’t try to touch him too much so things were going better.”

He didn’t say better than the rest of the week because the first day Alec had dropped Ben off Logan had called him two hours later.  Alec had been ready to come back and get Ben when Logan told him not to, he’d figure it out.  He just needed to talk to someone for a few minutes to keep from going insane.  So, Logan wasn’t the best with kids but he was trying and they learned pretty fast that Ben didn’t want Logan to touch him or get too close.  Alec knew there was a pattern in that already but he didn’t know how to break it, except give it time.

Which got him right back to square one, with Logan still looking upset and Ben at the table happily eating his dinner just because Alec told him too.  “So what happened?”

“Nap.”

“You put him down for a nap?”

“Transgenic or not, he’s had a pretty hard time lately Alec.  He was tired and he kept trying to hide that he was yawning.  It all went downhill from there.”

“So M&Ms for dinner.”

“Yeah well, that might have been my fault.”  Alec tilted his head slightly, waiting for the rest of it.  “I let him put M&Ms in his peanut butter sandwich at lunch.”

Alec knew he shouldn’t but Logan’s petulant tone of voice was too much and he couldn’t help but laugh. 

“He’s had a hard life Alec!”  Logan snapped, turning away from him.  “I just wanted him to have something fun.”

He pulled Logan close then, tugged until the other man’s back was flush with his chest.  He didn’t acknowledge the words he didn’t say, but he heard them anyway.  He wanted to give Ben the things Alec didn’t have.  He wanted him to understand play and fun and I want and I need and how to be a kid.  “Give him time Logan.”  Alec said in his ear.  “If I can come around to see how damn perfect you are,” He turned Logan to face him.  “Ben can too.  He just needs time to figure out who he can trust.”

Logan nodded before leaning up and brushing his lips against Alec’s.  Alec stifled his moan as he pulled Logan closer, opening to his lover as he deepened the kiss.  They hadn’t spent any time together since the night he’d found Ben and it was wearing on both of them.  He wanted nothing more than to push Logan back onto the couch, strip him down, and make him beg but before he could get more than a kiss something was pushing at his leg, trying to work between himself and Logan and there was no question what it was.

The boy had radar or something.  Every time Alec got close to Logan, Ben was there trying to squeeze between them.  And every time, Logan just took a few steps back.  Alec sighed in frustration.  He knew if he looked into Logan’s eyes he’d see the same.  “What’s up little man?”  He asked.

“All done.”

“Yeah, you finished up?”

“Uh huh.”

Logan walked out, heading into the other room to clean up after Ben and Alec wasn’t sure which one he wanted to strangle more in that moment. 

Alec took a seat on the couch, pulling Ben along with him.  “Look Ben, it’s not nice to do what you just did, alright?  I’m not mad, but you shouldn’t push people away like that.  If you want my attention, just say my name, okay?”

The boy looked chastised but Logan wasn’t sure he believed it.  He had vague memories of being that age, of manipulating his controllers into getting things or not having to do things.  They trained them hard and they trained them early at Manticore.     

“K” Ben said, and there was such an earnest note to the one syllable that Alec actually believed him.  Maybe for all the training, there was still just a little boy underneath it all.

“Here you go Ben.”  Logan said, kneeling down beside them with a bag of M&Ms.  “Just like I promised.  M&Ms since you did such a good job finishing your dinner.”

Ben looked at the bag of candy and then at Alec.  He smiled, trying to encourage him, letting him know it was okay to take the bag from Logan.  Trying to make him understand it was okay to trust Logan.

Something in the boy’s eyes went cold though and he knew then that he’d been wrong to doubt the training.  He’d been trained and even if he didn’t remember it, it was still there.  He looked back at Logan and pushed the bag away.  “No MMs.”  He said, turning his back and making himself right at home against Alec’s chest. 

Alec closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  He didn’t need to look up.  He heard the bag drop onto the table in front of him and the footsteps that took Logan away from him.  Again.        

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/profile)[comment_fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/) prompt of "Dark Angel, Logan/Alec Ben, Ben refused to eat anything Logan gave him and continually demanded M&M's (taking chances verse)" Written for [](http://bloodyfire.livejournal.com/profile)[bloodyfire](http://bloodyfire.livejournal.com/) 's prompt and the verse as a whole for her B-day!


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